The present invention relates to a method of varying the font size of characters, numerals, marks, symbols and the like (hereinafter generally referred to as "characters" for convenience) and, more particularly, to a method of reducing a character font size.
Word processors, office computers and the like are modern implementations extensively used for documents processing. In such implementations, besides ordinary characters consisting of a 24 by 25 dot matrix, characters in a smaller size or a larger size are often required. Especially, in Japanese, the demand for reduction of the character size is keen due to double constants and contracted sound involved therein. Concerning Japense, even a word processor or the like has come to be required to prepare a harmonious and orderly document as experienced in showing the reading of addresses and names by printing kana at their sides and such has been reflected by an increasing demand for reduced character fonts.
One approach to realize document processing with a reduced character size is storing the fonts of reduced characters in advance in a font memory. This, however, would require a font memory having an increased capacity. Another approach is generating reduced fonts by means of a word processor or like apparatus. For example, in a layout mode of a word processor designed for Japanese, exclusive patterns for discriminating kanji (Chinese characters) and the other characters is available for selecting a layout in a document page. The problem with the predetermined pattern scheme is that although one may readily grasp the layout in one document page, he or she experiences difficulty in recognizing a positional relationship between sentences and graphs. While such problems may be settled if the operator himself prepares reduced documents, the operation would consume disproportionate time and labor.